Pottsgrove grad turns sewing hobby into career in costume design

By DIANE VANDYKE, Journal Register News Service

Sunday, November 25, 2012

POTTSGROVE — When Jennifer Lanyon of Pottstown turned 16 years old, she received a Singer sewing machine for her birthday to explore her new interest in sewing. At the time, sewing was a creative outlet she enjoyed, along with drawing and sculpting.

As she learned to master the sewing machine, however, her imagination took over, and she began to modify her clothes, altering them to create her own styles. Eventually, she started sewing her clothes.

“I started by making a purse from a pattern,” says the 2008 Pottsgrove graduate and daughter of Bernice and Charles Lanyon. “But, I realized I didn’t like using patterns. I eventually got a dress form and learned how to drape fabric and create my own clothes. It was a lot fun. My friends and family would give me leftover fabric, and I would experiment with different designs.”

When she graduated, Lanyon naturally headed to Philadelphia University, where she could study fashion design. While she enjoyed designing and creating dresses and outfits, she discovered fashion design wasn’t exactly the perfect fit for her.

“It involved a lot of sketching and sending the designs to someone else to sew,” she recalls. “I like sewing and the entire hands-on creation process.”

Fortunately, she learned about a costume design internship with the Pennsylvania Renaissance Faire, which opened a new pathway for her.

“I visited the Renaissance Faire and was impressed with the costumes. Then, I checked the website and saw they had internships and I applied,” she said, noting that she was thrilled when she learned she was accepted into the program.

Starting at 8 a.m., she and the other interns sewed every day, making costumes for everyone who participates in the annual event, even the food and beverage staff. Through the experience, she further sharpened her sewing skills, and because of the volume of costumes, she learned to sew quickly.

During her senior year at Philadelphia University, a friend told her about an apprenticeship opportunity for costume design with the Walnut Street Theatre. After researching the Professional Apprenticeship Program on its website, she applied, interviewed and accepted the one-year paid position, which started in August and concludes in July 2013.

For the apprenticeship, Lanyon is now sewing costumes for five main stage shows and five studio shows, as well as Walnut Street Theatre’s Education Outreach Program. Her work started with costumes for the musical “Love Story,” which ran Sept. 12 to Oct. 21, and currently involves costumes for “The Music Man.”

“There are 30 to 40 children in the performance and 30 adults, all with multiple costumes,” she said, describing the volume of sewing she has been tackling for “The Music Man.”

For the main stage and studio productions, she works with Walnut Street Theatre Designer Colleen Grady and Assistant Designer Mary Filino.

“Months in advance of the show, they review the script and meet with the directors,” Lanyon said, describing the process of designing the costumes to synchronize with the director’s vision. “Everything coordinates — the costumes, the backdrops and props.”

From the initial sketches, the apprentices create mockup costumes out of muslin fabric. After tweaking and adjusting the styles, they make the costumes. During dress rehearsals, they adjust hemlines, add trim, finalize the necklines and make any alterations.

In addition to sewing costumes for the main productions, the apprenticeship program also allows Lanyon to create costumes for the educational outreach shows, like this year’s “Once Upon a Wolf,” a play that addresses the topics of peer pressure, prejudice and conflict resolution in a fun, entertaining format.

“This has been a great experience, said Lanyon, noting that she has learned much about theatre productions, as well as costume design.

For the future, she would like to work in costume design for film, as well as with special effects makeup.